Flexible working hours should be reflected by income

This report identifies the three Vs: Virtual, adVantage and Value
that will define the benefits of agile working as it emerges over the
next decade. As the concept of ‘virtuality’ gains ground, monetising
agility and creating a robust business case for changing the way
we work will become essential. Winning strategies at work is all
about success. And this success is for both employer and employee
as the concept of VWork delivers dividends in a number of areas.

‘New ways of working’ are already being put in place. In our survey
only 8.5% of respondents from large organisations reported that
no programme was in place. Of large enterprises surveyed, 62.5%
have already rolled out new ways of working.

Much has been written about virtual working over the last few
decades. The traditional definition of telecommuting or home
working and its predicted rise has not materialised. Our survey
found that only 1.6% of people who work for large employers work
from home – most (63.5%) still commute to an office four or five
days each week. But interestingly, only 9.7% of people in these
organisations would like to work from home. The preference is for
local work, within a 10-minute commute from home.

As cities become increasingly immobile, we predict a rise in a
‘permeable’ city where people will work from a variety of locations.
Our survey found that people were ready for nomadic work, with
59% saying they now had the right technology tools to work
anywhere.

Virtual work is a response to these pressures. It challenges the
traditional fixed workplace as the container for work, and instead
paints a more eclectic picture of ‘Martini’ work: anytime, anyplace,
anywhere; a fragmentation of the rules of office and corporate
life that will be mirrored by a growth in distributed work, both
through outsourcing and collaborative work-styles.

What is clear is that there is an expectation that the younger
workers, the millennial generation and those still at school, will
embrace virtual working and reject the traditional office. Of our
respondents in large employers, 74% expected this to be the case,
and so it is no surprise that 71.9% of them predicted a decrease
in the amount of office space that will be required. They see the
office as a place for occasional use (51.2%) and would prefer a
much shorter commute to an office – under 20 minutes compared
with over 40 today.

You can read the rest of the survey here.